Concentration warning in Southeast Asia Properties & Finance (0252)
SFC, 25-Jul-2018
This follows a complaint by Webb-site to the SFC on 10-Jun-2018. The top 22 holders have 92.2%. The company has applied to list a subsidiary, Hotel Benito Holdings Ltd, on GEM, distributing 100% of it to existing holders. We complained that this would create another listed company with identical concentrated ownership.

CMBC Capital (1141) grants HK$430m margin loan facility to another Macrolink company owned by Fu Kwan
Company announcement, 10-May-2018
That's on top of a US$30m loan to another of Mr Fu's companies 2 days earlier, and existing loans to that company of US$70m. The margin loan is at 8.5% p.a.. CMBC Capital's total exposure to Mr Fu's companies is now HK$1,210m, or about 96% of its net tangible assets. CMBC Capital in our view is a bubble stock, with a market value of HK$24.3bn, or about 19 times its net tangible assets.

Concentration warning in Kingston (1031)
SFC, 29-Jan-2018
20 holders have 91.653% of the stock. Hang Seng Services Ltd included it in the Mid-cap Index as announced on 16-Aug-2017. Now they will have to remove it.

Concentration warning in ITP Holdings (8446)
SFC, 14-Sep-2017
Despite having a public offer tranche, by 2.5 months after listing, the top 16 holders had 94.76% of the company. The stock is now over 20x its IPO price. This nicely demonstrates that requiring a public offer (which HKEX has proposed) won't prevent bubbles.

Concentration warning in Yat Sing (3708)
SFC, 14-Jun-2017
This follows a complaint by Webb-site to the SFC on 14-Jan-2017 and a second one on 31-May-2017 when MSCI put it in their small-cap index. Now they should eject it. The top 21 holders have 90.06% of the company.

SFC directs suspension of GME (8188) on day 1
SEHK, 22-Feb-2017
We don't yet know the reason for the suspension, but the stock is up 543% on its placing price. However, if that is the only reason, then why hasn't the SFC suspended other bubbles like China Jicheng (1027), Luen Wong (8217), Tai Kam (8321), Fullshare (0607) and Zall (2098), to name just a few?

Topsearch (2323) buys & subscribes 9.15% of SkyNet (8176) @$4.80 for HK$200m
| SkyNet announcement
Company announcement, 23-Nov-2016
Topsearch is buying 6.25m shares (1.49% of existing shares) from Eternity Investment (0764), and subscribing for 35,416,666 new Skynet shares. Eternity is selling down 25m shares of its existing 52m shares (12.39%) stake. At $4.80, the existing market cap of SkyNet is $2015m, but at 30-Jun-2016, it had net tangible assets of just HK$81.4m. Pre-placing, the top 6 holders have 91.48% of SkyNet. It's a bubble.

Zall (2098) coughs up details of financial assets at 30-Jun-2016
Company announcement, 14-Nov-2016
This follows a complaint by Webb-site to HKEX on 28-Oct-2016. Zall held, as we suspected, 4.3% of Fullshare (607). Fullshare, as we already knew, holds over 8% of Zall. Both stocks are huge bubbles, in our view. The SFC issued a concentration warning in Zall in mid-2014, but has not issued one in Fullshare.

Zheng Li (8283) allotments and concentration warning
Company announcement, 7-Nov-2016
The top 10 placees have 91.0% of the placing and the top 25 have 97.8%. 74 placees got 1 or 2 board lots, or 0.41% of the placing in total. The remaining 31 placees have 1.8% of the placing.

Concentration warning in Gold-Finance (1462)
SFC, 4-Oct-2016
Comment: net tangible assets at 31-Mar-2016 were $0.635/share, and EPS was $0.0481, so at today's closing price of $12.56, the stock is at 19.8x NTA and the P/E ratio is 261.

Hiding behind the cornerstones
Webb-site reveals that investors who took 31% of a bank IPO had secretly laid off their risk by issuing derivatives to a mainland property developer from the same city, via two HK-listed companies which incidentally are bubble stocks. When we complained, HKEX did not require disclosure of the bank’s identity, thereby preserving the secrecy behind the cornerstone investors which facilitate HKEX’s IPO business. Once again, the regulatory conflict of interest is exposed. (3-Oct-2016)

China Innovative Finance (0412) bubble
Hao Tian Development (0474) has confirmed our view by dumping 9.06% of CIFG at a 61.9% discount, still well above the net tangible asset value of $0.099. CIFG should trade below NTAV due to its appalling governance and membership of what we call the "Chung Nam Network". The purported profits of its leasing division are largely illusory and depend heavily on 1 customer in which CIFG has invested. HTD has also been allowed by HKEX to skirt the Listing Rules on corporate transactions. (26-Sep-2016)

CEEI (0986) sells China Jicheng (1027), buys Luen Wong (8217)
Company announcement, 18-Aug-2016
What it doesn't say: CEEI has breached Listing Rules by failing to obtain shareholders' approval in advance of Major Transactions and by failing to announce them for 4 weeks. Each stock is the subject of SFC concentration warnings. We calculate that the purchase of Luen Wong shares is at a P/B of 321 and a P/E of 861. CEEI says the deal is "fair and reasonable", "a good investment opportunity" and "an attractive investment which will provide satisfactory return".

MMT finds no insider dealing in Warderly shares
SFC, 5-Aug-2016
We don't disagree with the finding, but we annotate errors in the report regarding the outcome of an open offer. The MMT finds that when the duo sold shares in 2007, the information was no longer material, as the company was publicly known to be in difficulty and the stock was trading on its shell potential. Also, the alleged loss avoided becomes a profit avoided if the open offer had been taken up. Incidentally, Warderly is now known as Fullshare (0607) and in our view it is a bubble stock on 9x NAV, part of which is shares in another bubble stock, Zall (2098) which trades around 4x NAV.

Concentration warning in Jujiang Construction (1459)
SFC, 4-Feb-2016
Comment: unlike the GEM, the Main Board Listing Rules do not require any statement of the distribution of placing shares at the time of listing. 90% of the issue was placed, probably in concentrated hands, but no disclosure was required before trading began on 16-Jan. The main board rules should adopt the GEM requirement, disclosing how many shares went to the largest, top 5, top 10 and so on.

CAID (0048) gains from umbrella bubble
Following a Webb-site complaint to regulators, CAID has revealed 3 holdings, including umbrella maker China Jicheng (1027), still trading at over 70x NAV. CAID expects the investments to contribute a positive return in the near future, but doesn't say why. Meanwhile Lerado (1225) hasn't said how it made similar gains. Is it also in the umbrella bubble? (10-Oct-2015)

Bubbles and troubles in Hong Kong
Pour yourself a coffee and digest this long article as we investigate several ongoing abusive "open offers" and placings as well as show you who's been making out in multi-billion-dollar bubbles. We call on regulators and rule-makers to take action. (24-Sep-2015)

Concentration warning in Noble House (8246)
SFC, 28-Aug-2015
At today's closing price of $5.28, the company has a market value of $2266m, but its net assets at 30-Jun-2015 were $83.8m, so the loss-making firm trades at 27x NAV.

China Env Energy (0986) pays HK$113m for 1.73% of L & A (8195)
Company announcement, 12-May-2015
The average price per share was $1.62. At 31-Dec-2014, L & A had equity of $136.73m, or $0.034 per share. So the price is about 48x book value of the OEM cashmere clothing maker. In our view, China Env Energy has just invested in another bubble, following its investment in Suncorp (1063). The question is, why?

The bubbles in CNN
We warn investors of 3 bubbles amounting to HK$20.0bn (US$2.58bn) in the "Chung Nam Network" of listed companies, Heritage (0412), Rising Dev (1004) and Mascotte (0136) and look at a blatantly bad decision by the board of Hao Tian (0474), and an undisclosed Very Substantial Acquisition by that company. One of the bubbles is even a Russian doll "double bubble" - one owns the other. (8-Jan-2015)

Concentration warning in Sinogreen (1159)
SFC, 11-Nov-2014
Webb-site analysis: Sinogreen had net assets at 30-Jun-2014 of $24.1m and raised $164.4m from the issue of shares and convertible bonds to a Macau junket operator on 19-Sep-2014, with an issue and conversion price of $0.35. Upon full conversion, there will be 652,564,800 shares in issue, with a pro forma net asset value of $0.29 per share. The shares trade at $13.00, or about 45 times NAV.

Concentration warning in Grand Concord (0844)
SFC, 4-Sep-2012
This follows a request by Webb-site to the SFC late on Fri-10-Aug-2012 for an investigation of ownership concentration. The snapshot date is the next trading day, 13-Aug-2012.

Manipulation mania
What are markets really for? Does the law on market manipulation, and its enforcement, create unreasonable expectations from investors about the information in market prices, volumes and order queues? We say it does. It is time for the Government and SFC to review their approach and reset public expectations. We also look at shill bidding in auctions. (12-Jul-2010)

Imagi rights v shares gap
With Imagi's stock down 67.4% in 3 days since our bubble warning, the rights began trading this morning, at a huge discount to the share price, raising obvious questions of whether the market in either counter is false. If you own the shares and believe in the current valuation (which we don't) then why aren't you selling your shares and buying the rights to get free cash? (21-Apr-2010)

Imagi bubble
We issue a bubble warning on Imagi (0585), up 616% in 4 days on turnover of 185% of the company. The confusing timetable, with a 10:1 consolidation yet to come, has likely contributed to more chaos than we have seen since Asian Citrus. The market price implies a valuation of 33.2 times book value, or a premium of HK$17.3bn (US$2.23bn). We think a discount would be more appropriate, for the characters involved. (14-Apr-2010)

Larvotto - do you know the boatyard?
We probe the history of the SHKP/Kerry/Paliburg Larvotto, a luxury industrial-cum-residential project overlooking a typhoon shelter but behind boatyards and sawmills, which are noisy enough for the Environmental Protection Department to object to the Town Planning Board's
approval, as minutes reveal. "Non-openable windows" were cited as a mitigating measure. Yours for just HK$25k/psf - can you see the bubble? (3-Mar-2010)

Thinsoft's thin ice
There's a bubble in Thinsoft (8096), suspended with a market value of HK$1,604m and net assets of $33m. Over 95% of the company is in the custody of 2 brokers. We also discuss the archaic practice of parallel trading, which was to have been abolished in 2008. HKEx appears to have given up on that. (11-Dec-2009)

China Strategic bubble
We warn investors of a bubble in the stock of China Strategic, the 80% owner of the proposed buyer of Taiwan's Nan Shan Life Insurance, partly financed by a massive note issue convertible into 78bn shares at $0.10 each. We publish the placing list and analyse the names in the deal. Finally, we warn investors to avoid 7 companies in the "Chung Nam network", which has lost HK$6.2bn in 5 years. (13-Nov-2009)

The UURG to Purge
We look at the history of UURG (8192), currently controlled by battle-of-wills feng shui man Tony Chan Chun Chuen, and warn investors about the bubble surrounding the stock, which is trading at 191 times diluted NAV. (25-Sep-2009)

Incredibubble!
What else can you call a US$3.2tn market which has gained 358% in 20 months and trades on a historic P/E of over 60, which is probably closer to 80-100 if you take out stock-market and real-estate revaluations from "E". We look at the bubble, the impact on HK, the thru-train, the calls in HK for an A-H arbitrage mechanism, and how the bursting may affect the socio-political system. The absence of a free media is itself contributing to the bubble. (16-Sep-2007)

Bubble warning: CFII (1227)
Webb-site.com warns investors to avoid China Financial Industry Investment Fund Ltd (1227), a closed-end investment company trading at over 28 times its net asset value. We also find a surprising addition to the ranks of its independent directors. (13-Jul-2007)

B&B and Aptus
We issue a Webb-site.com "bubble rap" warning on Aptus (8212) and its parent B&B (8156). Aptus claims to have a deal with an arm of CNPC, parent of PetroChina, which apparently needs tiny GEM companies to help finance its mainland oilfields, while B&B, a honey trader, has bought a ticket in the mainland lottery which we expect will give you a worse return than the Mark Six if you buy the stock. We also take a close look at the financial engineering behind all this. (22-May-2006)

Stir-Fried Lobster
We issue a bubble warning on Hon Po Group (Lobster King) (0228), and dig into the background to its apparent transformation into the next big thing, coal mining in Inner Mongolia. (19-Apr-2006)

Kanstar Won't Star
We issue a bubble warning on Kanstar - a company run by the son of convicted former legislator Chim Pui Chung, which is trading at 29 times net assets and has yet to make an annual profit. We also take a look at Chim's comeback campaign and his other listed investments. (10-Aug-2004)

Guo Xin Toxin
In a follow-up to our story on the Interchina bubble, we tell you about Guo Xin Holdings, which is controlled by the same man after he bailed it out of difficulties. Guo Xin is trading in a bubble of 7x net assets, and Mr Zhang has already dumped stock and got his money back and $129m cash on top, while holding shares and warrants currently priced at $491m. You have been warned. (29-May-2002)

MSCI Boils the Interchina Bubble
Oh dear - it seems like the index compilers in Geneva don't read Webb-site.com - they have just put Interchina Holdings into the MSCI Small-cap Index, despite the clear warning from SFC investigations and our previous article that the stock has been cornered and ramped. Now this property stock is trading at over 7.5x net tangible assets instead of the discount to NTA it deserves. (16-May-2002)

Interchina Bubble
Pop quiz: what's the largest stock in the Hang Seng Small-cap Index? It's mainland property investor Interchina Holdings Ltd - at HK$7.11bn (US$912m). But not for long, we think. At 16.4x net asset value, this stock shows classic signs of being manipulated, and the SFC has investigated twice - you have been warned. (23-Oct-2001)

End of The Equity Spiral
We look in detail at last week's announcement of the proposed acquisition by Pacific Century CyberWorks of Cable & Wireless HKT. The issue of inflated shares in the deal will raise our valuation per share, but PCCW is now so big that the equity spiral is over, and there's a gap of US$44bn of hope or hype in the price. Read our detailed evaluation and discover the key "crossover" point between the two offers. (5-Mar-2000)